Private St John Tour including Trunk Bay

DO NOT BOOK A TOUR WITH GREAT EXPLORATION TOURS. We booked a tour with Viator, through AAA local travel services. The "Private St John Tour including Trunk Bay". The tour information misrepresented the itinerary and the flexibility purported for a 4-5 hour tour. Cost of the tour was $450 for two and I was assured by the customer service representative that we could choose to go anywhere on the island for a private tour of 4-5 hours. Not true! We had taken a Starfish Tours the day before with Ron for much less money. He was great and we saw an overview of the St. John island. I would recommend this company. Great Exploration Tours point of contact is Josie Cruz in Atlanta. Shellie is the point of contact on St. Thomas Island for the company. Kenneth is the driver on St. John. We stayed on the island of St. John, USVI. They were unresponsive and the level of their commitment to service to their customer was appalling. We requested a shorter duration of time spent at Trunk Bay, given our age in the 80's and mobility issues. Hurricane Melissa was also impacting the weather conditions. Since it was marketed as a private tour and we were the only people on the tour, we requested more time seeing other parts of the island, including seeing the donkeys at Coral Bay. Kenneth was brusque and rude beyond belief! He said he would not deviate from his route nor alter his time at Trunk Bay. He refused to consider taking us to Coral Bay or shopping in St. John. He abruptly hung up on me. Shellie called back but she was argumentative and aggressive. She asked me if I "was always this difficult?" She accused me of being rascist and a bully, and taking advantage of a small business owner! Needless to say, I expected more for a tour marketed as a private tour taking me wherever I wanted to go for the 4-5 hours...for $450! I cancelled the tour and requested a refund. It was denied! The good news...we were able to book with a local St. John tour driver, through the Westin, who took us to visit Trunk Bay for one hour and then back to St. John for shopping. The cost was approximately $150 for four hours. He even waited for us while we shopped and he was kind, considerate and respectful. In conclusion, do not book through Viator or AAA or anyone for a "Private St. John Tour including Trunk Bay by Great Exploration Tours". We credit the Westin with their support in helping us find a much better alternative. There are better tour operators on the island of St. John.

Plan on staying at a beach for a large part of your drive through the national park. Visitor center is very austere and sites are very similar. Beaches are beautiful and water is crystal clear, shallow for some distance from the beach and very refreshing. Find a place with shade if you are not a sun seeker. Maho Bay was very nice and easily accessed.

The driver, Kenneth, started the tour with a bad attitude, very rude. This is the first time ever we had experience something like this with a private tour. After a while, he did better. St John is beautiful and worth to go, but better off renting a car or taking a taxi to one of the beaches. Every single beach is paradise, so, research a little before going... That is all you need.

We chose the private tour because we wanted a personal experience with alot of information about the island and especially the national park. The driver that took us from Margaritaville to the ferry was very good and made sure that we got on the ferry and knew where to buy the tickets. After we arrived in St. John, we waited for about 45 min for our tour guide, Kenneth to arrive. He gave very little information and seemed like he just wanted to hurry us up at every stop. Initially we were told that we would have 2 hours at Trunk beach but we only got about an hour so we didn't have time to snorkel. The tour took place in one of the safari taxis and was difficult to see out of while riding down the road, and when going slow or idling we were breathing the exhaust fumes. I would certainly not recommend this company. We did not get what we paid for by any stretch, and we felt ripped off. We could've done this on our own for next to nothing...

WOULD NOT recommend this tour to anyone. They were not honest with me, and would not honor the amendments I requested ahead of time. It started with the transfer I paid for from the port to the ferry was not as described. The transportation service refused to come into the port area because they were going to charge him. Please note we paid for pick up service at the dock. When the driver refused the port entry, we had to walk a quarter of a mile to a restaurant parking lot to get the transportation. Furthermore, once they get you over on the island from St. Thomas is when they tell you they cannot do what you requested and become rude and pushy. We were forced to abandon the tour and incur costs on our own to have the day we planned. I am in the process of requesting a refund from Viator and/or my bank. Again, please be careful if you intend to book with this operator. My experience was horrible and I felt lied to and taken advantage of. “Josie” is the one at Great Exploration Tours that accepted my reservation and payment with the requests I made in advance. “Shelley” is the one that refused to abide by the request the day of the tour and was extremely rude and difficult. Again, this is MY personal experience. I have booked many many tours through Viator, and have NEVER had an experience such as this . Extremely upset, disappointed, and feel taken advantage of.

Stay away from this property. Below you will find an exhaustive list of the issues I found with the house and would like to bring to your attention. I hope you use the list to ensure others have an enjoyable stay and find that the house was worth the money they paid. 1. Filthy kitchen cabinets - The doors and drawers showed signs of grease buildup and liquid splashes that were never cleaned. (see pic) 2. Missing slider handle. This should have been mentioned when we checked in with the expected resolution date. Instead, I had to discover it and email your office to have it fixed. (see pic) 3. All three (3) kitchen knives were worn and dull (see pic) 4. Could not control the flame on the gas stove. It appears that they installed a NG stove and did not change the orifices for propane. 5. Most of the kitchen utensils as well as the pots and pans looked like they were obtained from 'Good Will'. Miss-matched, insufficient for any size cooking and they put away dirty as well. (see pics) 6. The dinning room was advertised as seating 12 but had only 10 chairs. We were a party of 12 and I was looking forward to having a family meal together. The chairs were a safety hazard since the legs were loose and the chair could have collapsed under someone's weight. My two sons tightened the chair legs on all 10 of the chairs so that no one would get hurt. (see pic) 7. Silverware consisted of three different types plus they were put away dirty. (Good Will quality?) 8. The master bath had two conditioners and no body wash/soap (see pic) We were fortunate that my wife brought a bar of soap. 9. The 'plastic' blender container had a crack in it and leaked. Had to email to request a new one. Thank you for replacing quickly. 10. The master bath had one box of tissue which was almost depleted and no spare. Had to use toilet tissue for 8 of the 10 days of our stay. First class! 11. Unable to control the temperature in the master bedroom. The temperature was 66 degrees Fahrenheit. (see pic) The issue was never corrected during our stay. 12. The remote control on one light/fan in the master bedroom did not work, making it impossible to shut off the light. Nor was there a light switch to shut off the light. At 1:00am I am standing on a chair to remove the light cover and the light bulbs. 13. Lamp shade in dining area was full of holes. Good Will wouldn't even put that up for sale. 14. Dryer door opens in the opposite direction to remove the cloths, making it difficult to remove the cloths as well as see if anything was left in the dryer. (see pic) 15. Up to 16 pictures were removed from the walls and the nails/hangers were left in the walls. (see pics) 16. Holes in the wall in one of the bathrooms (see pic) 17. Trees on the deck need to be trimmed or removed. Constantly having to clean the deck and pool. 18. Outdoor showers have no way to sweep out the leaves that were falling from the untrimmed trees. 19. Water pressure was a trickle 20. The can opener was broken. Had to pry open the canned foods. (see pic) Just like camping! 21. Ice maker was a block of solid ice and was brown due to the rust (see pic) 22. The TV was slightly larger than my computer monitor and didn't work when we arrived. Had to call to have someone fix it. 23. The master bathroom had two sinks, two towel holders, but only one face towel. 24. My daughter-in-law found a Q-tip and a fly in the sheets of her bed. What a warm welcome. 25. Hand soap in the bedrooms was watered down. First class! 26. One month prior to my arrival I emailed Destination St. John and mentioned several items that I was very particular about and the grill was one of them. The grills tank gauge read 'empty' when we checked it since we were going to grill steaks that evening. Had to email to request a full tank and had to change our menu for the evening. 27. Wine glasses in dining area were put away dirty. My son went to use one and there was lipstick on it. We washed all of them. This house was NOT worth the $19,947.75 I paid to rent it for 10 days. The house was advertised as: "The kitchen has been completely remodeled and looks gorgeous with cherry cabinets". NO IT WAS NOT.

+14

The organizer didn’t tell the initial transport driver that we were coming. I was able to contact him and he got us to the ferry in plenty of time to spare. The stops and views were cool. The tour itself was good, but not worth the money. This tour should have only cost 60-75 per person.

We had a wonderful day on St John. Kenneth was an excellent tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and shared a lot about the island. Trunk Bay was beautiful.

Informative guided tour of St. John. Kenneth met us at the ferry dock and made sure we got a full tour of the island and vistas of other islands near by. We highly recommend Viator tours…reliable, friendly people.

Hamblet and Kenneth were both awesome. Trunk Bay is the prettiest beach I’ve ever visited. Great time had by all.